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Artist Profile: James Avati (1912 — 2005)

Painter James Avati has been called both the “Father of the Paperback Book Covers” and the “Rembrandt of Paperback Book Covers.” Born in New Jersey, Avati studied architecture at Princeton University and, after serving in World War II, became a prolific commercial illustrator and cover artist. At first he used professional models but the majority of his paintings used friends, family, and people he spotted on the streets of Red Bank, New Jersey. Ten years before his death at the age 92, Avati was inducted into the Society of Illustrators’ Hall Of Fame.